27 Mar 2018

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Book Review / Tonight the Streets are Ours by Leila Sales

Recklessly loyal.

That’s how seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley has always thought of herself. Caring for her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But lately she’s grown resentful of everyone—including her needy best friend and her absent mom—taking her loyalty for granted.

Then Arden stumbles upon a website called Tonight the Streets Are Ours, the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter, who gives voice to feelings that Arden has never known how to express. He seems to get her in a way that no one else does, and he hasn’t even met her.

Until Arden sets out on a road trip to find him.

During one crazy night out in New York City filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that Peter isn’t exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn’t exactly who she thought she was, either.


Published:     15th September 2015
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Library




MY REVIEW

After reading a few thrillers I thought it was about time I picked up something a bit more fun and light.  I had read Past Perfect by Leila Sales quite a while ago now and recently read This Song will Save Your Life and thought it was about time to pick up something else by this author.  
  
Despite the fact that this book was very predictable, I enjoyed following Arden as she goes in search of Peter after following his online story.  The message I took from this story is that  you should not always believe what you read online and, in this case, there is always more to the story than what you find out from someone else.

Both Arden and Peter were characters that were pretty ordinary and interesting to follow.  Unfortunately, I could not say the same for Arden's best friend Lindsey who is a character that I did not like at all.  She came across to me as very selfish and not at all what a best friend should be. 

All in all, this was a fun read.  Exactly what I was looking for.  Although I have seen this described as a love story, I wouldn't call it that.  I would call it more of a fun adventure story.  

Continue reading Book Review / Tonight the Streets are Ours by Leila Sales

26 Mar 2018

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Book Review / The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn




Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.





Published:     2nd January 20128
Publisher:  William Morrow
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:   Library




MY REVIEW

I was so excited to pick this up as I had seen this book everywhere!  I am still in a bit of a thriller reading kick, so knew immediately that this was something that I needed to pick up and read straight away!  

I have to be honest here and said that although the first part of the story was very interesting,  by the time I got to the middle and headed towards the end I found myself getting bored.  Maybe this says more about me and my reading experience with this novel, I am not sure.  By the time I had read a bit of this novel I had figured out basically everything that was happening and going to happen, including the big reveal nearer the end.  Had I not figured that out near the beginning, this definitely would have been a 4 or 5 star book.  

Sad about this one but I did enjoy the writing style and will certainly be looking out for more from this author. 





Continue reading Book Review / The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn

22 Mar 2018

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Book Review / Dark in Death by JD Robb

It was a stab in the dark.

On a chilly February night, during a screening of Psycho in midtown, someone sunk an ice pick into the back of Chanel Rylan’s neck, then disappeared quietly into the crowds of drunks and tourists in Times Square. To Chanel’s best friend, who had just slipped out of the theater for a moment to take a call, it felt as unreal as the ancient black-and-white movie up on the screen. But Chanel’s blood ran red, and her death was anything but fictional.

Then, as Eve Dallas puzzles over a homicide that seems carefully planned and yet oddly personal, she receives a tip from an unexpected source: an author of police thrillers who recognizes the crime—from the pages of her own book. Dallas doesn’t think it’s coincidence, since a recent strangulation of a sex worker resembles a scene from her writing as well. Cops look for patterns of behavior: similar weapons, similar MOs. But this killer seems to find inspiration in someone else’s imagination, and if the theory holds, this may be only the second of a long-running series.

The good news is that Eve and her billionaire husband Roarke have an excuse to curl up in front of the fireplace with their cat, Galahad, reading mystery stories for research. The bad news is that time is running out before the next victim plays an unwitting role in a murderer’s deranged private drama—and only Eve can put a stop to a creative impulse gone horribly, destructively wrong.


Published:     1st February 2018
Publisher:  Piatkus Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 46, In Death
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher




MY REVIEW

I know this is a series that I haven't started from book 1 (and I plan to do at some point but the series is 46 books long, so it's going to take me a while!) but this is one of my most favourite thriller series ever!  There are so many things I love about this; some of which I can share and some I can't because of spoilers.  Some aspects that I love include:
  • the characters.  With each and ever book I have read in this series, you have mostly the same core characters.  You obviously have Eve Dallas, the main detective we follow, her husband Roarke, who is a very interesting character himself, and many other police officers, journalists and professionals that Eve Dallas always seems to turn to when she is trying to work a case;
  • the story/plot.  Of course each and every book has its own story line different from the book before but most of the books that I come across tend to have certain things happen at the same times such as someone gets murdered, detectives have to find out what or who, there's some sort of twist and then maybe a conclusion.  I like this; and 
  • this world is set way in the future, where you can program a machine to make you a meal or brew you a coffee and such.  Some novels that I have come across that have this just seem too far fetched but with this series although it is set in the future and there are some smaller aspects that are in the story that point out that, the main story is very universal and can be set at any time. 
This next instalment in the In Death Series certainly did keep me at the edge of my seat and despite the fact that it was mostly predictable, I enjoyed the ride the author took me on and can't wait to read the next one!!!

Continue reading Book Review / Dark in Death by JD Robb

16 Mar 2018

Author Interview & Book Feature / A Bargain in Silver by Josie Jaffrey



A deadly infection threatens to wipe out humanity. The only people who can stem its advance are the Silver, a vampiric race who offer a simple exchange: protection in return for blood and subservience. It's not a deal that Emmy's willing to make, but as her world burns around her she finds herself in the arms of the enemy and the line between oppressor and saviour begins to blur.
After an attack by the infected, Emmy is rescued by the handsome Drew who introduces her to the world of the Silver. Desperate to escape subjugation and confused by her attraction to him, she gathers what remains of her surrogate family and plans to make a break for freedom.

But despite her efforts to resist, she is drawn further into the intrigues of the mysterious Silver through the agency of their ruler, the Primus: Solomon. Emmy refuses to submit to the cold and detached Primus and an attempt on her life makes it clear that he is unable to protect her from the political machinations of his race.

As the connection between them deepens she must choose between her desire and her will to rebel, but can she trust his intentions when everyone is after her blood?



Praise for A Bargain in Silver:

✭✭✭✭✭  Dystopian, post-apocalyptic and dark, very dark… Josie Jaffrey takes on the world of the paranormal with bold strokes and a personal touch. – Tome Tender
✭✭✭✭✭  I absolutely loved this book. I had the hardest time putting it down. I think I may have even growled at my family when they interrupted me. – Baroness Book Trove
✭✭✭✭  This is a powerful start to what I am sure will be an amazing series! – One Book Two
✭✭✭✭  This book had me hooked right from the very first page. A slightly different twist on the usual vampire romance, this is a well written and intriguing start to the series. – A British Bookworm’s Blog

Excerpt:

His beautiful blue eyes bored into mine.

“What would you have me do?” he challenged. “Would you rather I lied? That I use clever arguments to convince you this is something you want? That I manipulate you into believing the reality of this arrangement to be other than it is?” 

I looked down at the table.

“We have to drink blood to live,” he continued, “and it has to be human. There’s no way I can make that concept more palatable to you, if you’ll excuse the pun. Life as you knew it has changed, Emilia. We have always been here, moving amongst you, it was just that you weren’t conscious of our presence. Now, with the Weepers multiplying, consuming and replacing your kind, we can no longer hide.”

“Isn’t that a little disingenuous?” I said, remembering Jeff’s theory about the lead time that would have been required for the level of organisation the vampires had displayed. “Aren’t the Weepers just an excuse for you to act?”

“We have been waiting for an opportunity for some time,” he acknowledged with a tilt of his head. “I know you want things to return to how they were,” he continued, “but that is not in my power to give. Your world is gone. You’re fighting for a life that no longer exists. There are difficult decisions to make, sacrifices, simply to save what little remains to us. I am trying to salvage an existence for your race, a new world for both of our races. There could be a place in that world for you, if you’re willing to look for it.”


Author Interview:
 
1. If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why?
 
For me, writing is actually a solitary pursuit (at least until I’ve finished that essential first draft), so I don’t think I would be very good at collaborating with other authors on a single piece of work. However, I’d love to do a short story collection with authors like Nalini Singh and JR Ward, because they write in the same genre and I really enjoy their work.

2. What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write?

I work part-time as a self-employed lawyer, so my day usually includes a few hours of legal drafting or research. I like to get that finished before I start writing, because I can often find myself writing into the early hours of the morning and I don’t like to stop once I get into the flow.

My writing routine itself is quite boring, I’m afraid. I need quiet and isolation to immerse myself fully in the story I’m crafting, so writing in a public place is definitely out for me. I write from home, curled up on the sofa or in bed, where there’s nothing to get between me and the screen. I try to write 2,000 words a day, so it takes me about two months to write a book (after many months of planning and plotting), but I’ve been known to finish a book in a month when the legal work is light.

3. What is the hardest part of the writing for you?

The blocks. For me, the traditional representation of writer’s block isn’t accurate. Instead, I sometimes find myself stuck on a certain bit of a story, unable to progress further and so unable to force myself to write. In every case (and I mean every single one), this has been because there’s something deficient in my plotting or characterisation that I need to identify and sort out first.

For example, I’ve found myself stuck when:

I didn’t know a character well enough to predict what they’d do next, so I had to go away and think hard about their backstory and motivations before coming back to the scene;
I’d just written a scene where a character was behaving in a way that they wouldn’t. It took me a while to work that one out, but when I did I needed to go back and rewrite; and
frequently, at the dreaded 30% mark, I realised that I had plotted tightly up until the first crush point, but hadn’t properly sorted out the intricacies of what was going to happen after it.

4. When and why did you first start writing?

I’ve always written stories, but nascent novels were often abandoned halfway through when I lost interest or started to think they were rubbish. I didn’t finish my first full novel until A Bargain in Silver in 2014. I’ve been writing solidly since, and am now working on my sixth.

5. How did you come up with the idea for your book?

It actually came from a story I had started writing in 2003, which morphed into a graphic novel I half-wrote and drew in 2009, before finally turning into the Solis Invicti series. I’ve always loved vampires, and I’ve always known I wanted to write a story set in London, where vampires had taken over, but it took me a few attempts to design the world I wanted.

6. Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?

I read all the time; every author should. I actually run an online book club (The Gin Book Club) through my website. We do written reviews, video reviews and UK author interviews, and we're currently open to new members.

I’m reading Richard Morgan’s Takeshi Kovacs series at the moment, a cyberpunk noir that was recommended to me by the author Jodi Taylor. It’s really gritty in a way that appeals to me, but is also beautifully written. His dialogue is a lesson in good characterisation.

7. Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?

Read! Read critically, and read widely, but particularly make sure you’re reading in the genre in which you’re writing. If you’re submitting your work to agents, then they don’t want to hear that your work is the next Twilight because it’s OLD (and overdone). They want to know that you keep up with current releases, so you know what’s popular now and where your work sits within it. The Gin Book Club really helps me to do this, because we review advance review copies as well as published novels.

Also, don’t sell yourself short by calling yourself an ‘aspiring author’. If you write, then regardless of whether or not your work is published, you’re an author.

 

THE SOLIS INVICTI SERIES
By Josie Jaffrey

The Solis Invicti series is set in London, in a world in which the human population has been decimated by a blood-borne virus.  In the wake of the zombie apocalypse that follows, a vampiric race called the Silver seizes control.  Without the protection of the Silver, humanity will soon cease to exist, and without uninfected human blood, the Silver will perish.  A necessary symbiosis is the result, but the power of the two races could not be more unevenly balanced.

The protagonist of the series is Emilia, a twenty-something barmaid with an insubordinate and reckless approach to the new order.  In the first days following the collapse, she struggles to accept that her life has changed irrevocably and that she is powerless to reclaim it.  That recalcitrance brings her face to face with the highest ranks of the Silver.

The series is targeted at adults and mature young adults.  The books contain horror, profanity and sexual content.  This isn't erotica, but there are some steamy scenes (only one or two per book).  There are love triangles, aggression and drama, but there is also an eventual HEA.

Series Info:

Books in series: 4
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Adult, Dystopian, Urban Fantasy

 





Continue reading Author Interview & Book Feature / A Bargain in Silver by Josie Jaffrey